Long Lines Relay

Long Lines Relay is a desktop app that runs on your logging computer. Once you connect it to your account, it posts each contact you log to Long Lines as a spot, and it can run a small DX cluster that feeds matched spots into your logging software’s bandmap. It runs on Windows 10 and 11, macOS and Linux.

Why you’d use it

You’re working toward Worked All States. With the relay running beside your logger, each contact you log marks its state on your goal within seconds, and your connections stop alerting for that state.

How it works

Connecting a relay

The relay signs in with a code, not your password. It shows a code such as KQ7M-X4PD and opens longlines.io/relay/approve in your browser. You approve it there while signed in. Codes last 10 minutes. Typing the code is forgiving: case doesn’t matter, and O reads as 0, I and L as 1.

The approval page lists what the relay is asking for:

• “Post contacts logged as KK4PWJ as spots” (your account’s callsign).
• “Receive the spots that match your connections, for its local DX cluster” (needed for a Local DX cluster destination). The current relay always asks for this; a relay signed in with an older version may not have it.
• “Can’t read or change your connections, groups, destinations or settings”. A relay never can.

You can connect up to 10 relays. The relay keeps its sign-in in your operating system’s credential store (on Linux, GNOME Keyring or KWallet), never in its settings or log files.

What happens to a logged contact

Your logging software broadcasts each contact on your computer in the N1MM Logger+ format. The relay catches it, checks it, and posts it. See Set up your logging software for which loggers work.

Each contact becomes a spot from the Logged contacts source. The spotter is your call as logged, and the callsign is the station you worked. The band comes from the frequency. There is no comment or reference.

Logged contacts are public, like any other spot. Any Long Lines user with a connection on Logged contacts gets them, and they count on callsign profiles. The approval page says so: “Spots from your log are visible to other Long Lines users, like spots from any other source.”

A contact is not posted when:

• The call you logged as doesn’t match your account’s callsign, compared by base call (so W1AW/P matches an account holding W1AW). If several accounts hold the same base call, only the one that has held it longest can post contacts as it.
• It was logged more than 30 minutes ago.
• Its time is more than 5 minutes ahead of the clock.
• It’s malformed.

The relay checks these itself before sending, and shows the reason next to the contact (see The relay window).

When you edit a contact in your logger, its old spot is replaced. When you delete one, the spot is taken down. Spots already delivered to destinations are not recalled. A relay posts up to 120 contacts a minute.

If the relay can’t reach Long Lines, contacts wait in a queue on your computer, which survives a restart. A contact still waiting 30 minutes after you logged it is dropped. Deletes never expire.

Your own logged contacts are never sent back to your own Local DX cluster destinations.

Set it up

1. Install Long Lines Relay on your logging computer. Signed in to Long Lines, the Get the relay button on the API tokens page links to the latest release.
2. In the relay, select Sign in with Long Lines. The relay shows Your code with a countdown (Expires in) and opens your browser.
3. If the browser didn’t open, select Open browser again, or go to longlines.io/relay, enter the Code, and select Continue.
4. Sign in to Long Lines if asked. Accounts made with Google must add a callsign first.
5. Check that the code on the page matches the one in the relay, read the permissions, and select Allow.
6. The page says “Relay connected”. Go back to the relay, which now shows Connected at the top.
7. Set up your logging software to send contacts to the relay.

To stop using a relay on one computer, open its account menu (your callsign, top right) and select Sign out. That removes the sign-in from that computer only. To disconnect it for good, open API tokens on Long Lines, find it on the Long Lines Relay card, and select Revoke. It stops posting at once.

On that card, the Connected column is the date you paired the relay. A green Connected chip next to the computer’s name means its local DX cluster stream is open right now.

Common setups

Contacts for goals only. Sign the relay in and use goals with From my log, using the relay. You don’t need a Logged contacts connection, and you can leave the DX cluster off.

Bandmap feed. Sign the relay in, then make a Local DX cluster destination and turn on the relay’s DX cluster.

Two shack computers. Pair each one separately; each appears as its own row on the Long Lines Relay card, and each can be its own Local DX cluster destination.

When it doesn’t work

“We don’t recognize this code.” Check it against the relay. If the relay now shows a different code, use the new one.

“This code expired”. Codes last 10 minutes, and a code that was already answered also shows as expired. The relay says “The code expired”. Select Sign in with Long Lines again.

“Sign-in was denied”. Deny was selected in the browser. Sign in again to get a new code.

“You can connect up to 10 relays. Disconnect one in API tokens first.” Revoke a relay you no longer use.

“Add your callsign to your account first.” Your account has no callsign yet (Google sign-up). Add one on the page Long Lines shows you.

“Can’t read the sign-in on this computer”. The relay couldn’t open the credential store. Unlock your keychain or keyring; the relay keeps trying. On Linux, signing in needs a running Secret Service (GNOME Keyring or KWallet).

Contacts don’t show up. See The relay window. The most common cause is a callsign mismatch: check Callsign on the Account page against the call in your logger.

The relay isn’t offered for a Local DX cluster destination. It was paired without permission to receive spots. On the relay’s DX cluster tab, select Sign in again and allow the spots line.